But just who was this colourful character? And why would someone want him dead so much?

Beaumont-Gowling was 52 when he was shot in the head, on February 14 2001.

A former restauranteur, Mr Beaumont-Gowling amassed a fortune and enjoyed a champagne lifestyle which took him all over the world. But while he appeared to be a legitimate businessman on the surface, he had strong connections with crime in the UK and across Europe.

After becoming hooked on cocaine, he fell in with powerful drug dealers and took on the role of courier for their cash.

He was jailed for 11 years for money laundering in 1997.

By this time he had laundered £2.5m in five trips to Dublin, making a personal profit of at least £125,000. But he was caught red-handed as he prepared to board a flight with £540,000 in drug money in 1996.

Beaumont-Gowling, also known as David Simpson, was released from prison just months before his murder.

After his release the former chef became an adviser to restaurants on Teesside as part of his prison-release programme.

He returned to the plush home in Jesmond he had set up by girlfriend Teresa Holmes.

And he quickly resumed his high-profile life-style in the city

Following his murder Beaumont-Gowling’s sister Wendy Maher, from Manchester, said her brother’s lifestyle was as much of a mystery to her as anyone.

“He never spoke about anyone when he was released from prison,” she said. “Peter had paid for what he had done by going to jail.

“I spoke to him two days before he died and I knew that he was finding it difficult adjusting.

“I will always remember Peter as a very generous man.

“We did not know anything about his criminal past or his reputation. Of course, we know now he had done some bad things, but he had paid for that. He had developed his own lifestyle as he left home a long time to settle on Tyneside.”

But Det Supt Derek Storey, who lead the murder enquiry, said Beaumont-Gowling appeared to live a double life.

Six months after the killing he said: “Mr Gowling ‘s death was nothing less than a calculated, cold-blooded assassination which may have been sparked by problems with creditors and could have been drug-related by reason of his recent criminal past.

“He appeared to have two separate and distinctive lifestyles. On one hand he had an association with legitimate businessmen and non-criminal friends. And on the other, an affinity with the criminal fraternity.

“He was an extroverted, larger than life character who was well known in the licensing and restaurant trades.”